The spot claims to be paid for by a group called “Californians Against Identity Theft.” The coalition has no website and has not filed a campaign committee with the Secretary of State, though the content of the ad likely would not trigger disclosure requirements because it does not mention a specific measure or candidate.

The group does not appear to have any ties to legitimate organizations dedicated to protecting consumers from identity theft. A spokeswoman for the San Diego-based Identity Theft Resource Center disputed the premise of the ad.

Later in the article is this gem:

Derek Cressman of government watchdog group Common Cause said he was “hard pressed” think of a situation where signing an initiative petition led to identity theft. He said the ad sounded like an attempt to “provoke a fear” to discourage people from signing petitions.

And then there is the SEIU – imagine that…

Supporters of the so-called “paycheck protection” measure, which would also restrict political contributions by unions and corporations, have reported spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on paid signature gatherers to secure a spot on next year’s ballot. The effort has sparked at least one labor-backed campaign to prevent the measure from qualifying.

SEIU California is dispatching its own representatives to the streets to persuade voters not to sign petitions. The union has sent members a toll-free number to report canvassers circulating petitions for the measure, urging them to dial in “if you see someone trying to fool voters in your community into signing away our rights.”

They laundered money. They embezzled money. They violated campaign finance law. They are corrupt.

The Placer GOP has has its’ meetings disrupted by shouts and a handful of local activists who believe what they are told without question. They have been loosely organized by Karen England. The anecdotal evidence and patterns of action locally suggest credence to my previous sentence – and the pattern has borne out over 2+ years.

Some would say, “Here you go again, Aaron”. It is really easy to blow this whole thing off as a hate vendetta – the stuff of local politics. I hear people say, “this is just a personality conflict” as a means of trying to dismiss the whole matter.

2+ years later – the local media is still getting contacted by Karen and her allies. Witness the above-the-fold story in the Sacramento Bee that was published today.

Recently, Karen and her allies got Doug LaMalfa, Ted Gaines and Beth Gaines involved in an attempt to pressure “us” to “open the books”.

In the recent California Republican Assembly state officer elections – Karen and her allies attempted to take over the state organization, but were thwarted by the CRA’s by-laws and the exposure of membership and delegate fraud.

The delegates that were submitted were familiar names to those of us in Placer County (legislative staff and Karen’s latest group of recruits to her jihad) – but were on the rosters of units in Corona, Arcadia, Monrovia, Glendora, Huntington Beach, Seal Beach, and units in San Diego County.

The connection to Placer County Politics is – in the late days of her campaign Karen and her allies made a statewide election for a conservative grassroots organization (the CRA) all about her personal hatred of Tom Hudson, George Park and myself.

But – it is more than that. While Ted Gaines, Beth Gaines and Doug LaMalfa may not be fully aware of the deeper issues at work here (or they don’t care), but, their recent involvement in the affairs of the Placer GOP have to be explained.

In future posts, I will expand further on the Captiol Resource Institute. Those of you wondering why a seemingly minor local dispute that is miles away from 99% of the voters seemed to have caught their attention need to have a look:

In their case, it is pretty simple – they are major donors to the Capitol Resource Institute. In this link to campaign finance records – you can see Ted Gaines’ donations of $4000 to the Capitol. (Save our kids and Capitol Resource Family Impact both got $1500 from Gaines as well as another $1,000 to Capitol Resource Institute itself further down the list) Ted Gaines did nothing wrong by giving to the Capitol Resource Institute – rather the significance of pointing this out is that it establishes the nexus of influence. (E.G. Protecting their investment?)

Doug LaMalfa? Try $25,000! This certainly explains why Tom, George and I who supported Rick Keene over Doug LaMalfa started getting slandered in late 2009 by Karen England in the run up to that Primary.

Click here and here to see two more donations from Senator LaMalfa to Capitol Resource Institute – bringing his total to $27,500! Also note that the donations started in 2005. Again, as with Gaines – LaMalfa did nothing wrong by donating so generously to the Capitol Resource Institute – but the issue is the failure to disclose the connection and Karen’s failure to disclose how her paycheck is impacted by the generosity of those Republican Electeds. However, it is obvious that Both Senators thought there was some sort of significant political benefit to contributing such large amounts of money to the Capitol Resource Institute.

This is significant – because Karen and her allies sought to attempt to re-open the issue of the Placer GOP’s 2008 prop 8 campaign by getting the above three to send an email which was forwarded to the local media after the Cent Com voted 14-7 to close the issue at the May 2011 Placer GOP meeting.

After the email went out – Karen England and her team got limited press and a motion to recommit went down 15-8 at the June Placer GOP meeting.

How does this tie in to the CRA? Why would a self-styled Conservative activist want to set fire to a Prop 8 campaign? To be continued…

I have chronicled how the Yolo County Clerk Recorder is in the bag with Gavin Newsome, ACORN and the like. We all know that the FPPC – the State Campaign Finance Regulatory Arm – is rather selective about their enforcement of Campaign Finance Laws.

Enter Mark Pruner. Mark is the reputed “Moderate” Chairman of the Yolo County Republican Party. Unlike most so-called Moderates, Mark actually volunteers significant time – including suing Jerry Brown over his expired Law License. Even though Brown’s friends on the State Supreme Court rendered their service to the Dem Party – dismissing the suit… Pruner still pressed it. Now the AG who Pruner sued is in charge of the licensing agency overseeing Pruner’s Law License.

Sorry – most Moderates (aka RINO’s) I have ever met sit on their butts and whine about the GOP while cutting deals with Democrats.

Attached is a letter from the FEC to Mr. Pruner after Pruner successfully pressed the issue about the Yolo County Democrat Party flaunting campaign finance laws. Some will remember the non-story pushed in Placer County over our Central Committee and one check – take a look at the press release from the Yolo County GOP to see what a real Campaign Finance Issue Looks like:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
YOLO COUNTY DEMOCRATIC CENTRAL COMMITTEE AND DAVIS DEMOCRATIC CLUB FINED BY FEDERAL ELECTION COMMISSION
Davis, CA – The Yolo County Democratic Central Committee (YCDCC) and the Davis Democratic Club have entered into a settlement with the Federal Election Commission. A settlement with the FEC was reached which included payment of a $1500 civil penalty by the YCDCC.

The action, under case number ADR512 and ADR513 stem from allegations by Mark Pruner, Chairman of the Yolo County Republican Central Committee that the Davis Democratic Club received contributions in excess of $80,000.00 and failed to report the funds and expenditures as required by law. An additional allegation cites one 2004 expenditure by the YCDCC made to MoveOn.org of $5,000.00 that went unreported.

The YCDCC in its response, contended that they “may have inadvertently” qualified as a political committee in 2004, but due to the scarcity of records could not assess the level of activity.”

In addition to agreeing to pay the fine, the Yolo County Democratic Central Committee has agreed to hire a compliance specialist and will be required to send two representatives to a Federal Election Commission conference. The Davis Democratic Club will also be required to send a representative to a Federal Election Commission Conference.

An investigation is also in process at the State level before the California Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC).

Upon reading the action by the FEC, Kirby Wells, Yolo County Republican Committee vice chair stated, “All we want to see is a level playing field. Now that the FEC has acted, the Yolo County Democratic Committee and the Davis Democratic Club are required to abide by the same rules we have been following.” Wells also called upon the FPPC to “complete the process” and finish their investigation so that a full and complete picture of the scope of the YCDCC finance reporting failures could be ascertained by the public.

For more information about the Federal Election Commission please visit www.fec.gov, or contact them at (800) 424-9530

For more information about the Yolo County Republican Central Committee, please go to: www.yologop.org, or call Mark Pruner, Chairman at (916) xxx-xxxx